Building NES Unlicensed Sets: Tengen and More

It's no secret at this point that I'm an avid game collector (unbelievable, I know!). A while back, I decided to target the Nintendo Entertainment System as the first set to complete. Initially, I decided to focus on a loose licensed set.  That means to collect every game officially licensed by Nintendo without the manual, box, or inserts. But wait... that means that there are unlicensed games?  What does that mean exactly?

A Brief History of Game Licensing

It seems as though licensing has been an issue since the dawn of time for modern electronics. We've probably all heard about law suits and other high-profile software cases in the media. At a high-level, the video game industry operates in a similar fashion. Video game original equipment manufacturers such as Atari, Nintendo, Sega, and Sony all provide some type of licensing to video game development companies. To be more clear, they require a fee from companies who wish to develop software for their hardware platform. The specifics tend to vary, but essentially, these companies purchase a license. Beyond licensing, there are hardware and software development kits, technical reference documentation, and surely other things that can be had by the software developers. All of these resources are marketed and sold as essentials. However, there have been companies who simply did not or could not afford these fees. Thus we have unlicensed games!

Who Developed Unlicensed Games?

There have been quite a few development studios that have created games without official licensing. Specifically, I'm focusing on the NES platform, since that's what I am collecting for at the moment. Some of the companies that have developed unlicensed games for the NES are Tengen, Color Dreams / Bunch Games / Wisdom Tree, American Video Entertainment, and Camerica. Below, I'll investigate some of these titles.

Tengen

You'll likely remember Tengen by their cartridge shape and color.

Tengen carts for the NES in all their glory!

Some games, such as Gauntlet and Pac-man, also have a licensed version available in the regular standard gray NES cartridge format. I enjoy collecting these titles as they're different and refreshing.  They're black in color, have a different cartridge shape, and a much heavier feel than the standard NES games. The quality is also on par with licensed NES titles.

I was not really aware of these titles when they were released, which adds to my overall interest. There are a number of Tengen titles, but none are too pricey (except for Tengen Tetris). So far, I have tried out Fantasy Zone, Rolling Thunder, and Klax. I liked these titles and am considering writing about them further in a future post.

Tengen was created by Atari Games and had its headquarters in Milpitas, CA. A few dozen titles were published before being shut down after a controlling interest in Atari Games changed hands. Tengen battled Nintendo in a copyright and patent infringement case over publishing unlicensed games. The case was settled out of court. Tengen also battled Nintendo over rights to publish Tetris for the NES, which it lost.

Color Dreams

I currently only have one title by Color Dreams: Captain Comic. I picked up this game by chance at a flea market. It's actually in fairly good condition, which is surprising, as it was very very dirty. The label has survived very well.

Captain Comic is the first title I've played or owned by Color Dreams, so I don't have anything to compare to across their library. The game didn't seem all that bad. I felt that the game play was a bit erratic, which made it fairly challenging. There are lots of enemies at any given time. At first glance, it does not seem to be as linear and rigid as similar games from the same time period. In some ways, it reminds me of Wizards and Warriors. I liked the incorporation of classical music in the game.

The title screen of Captain Comic

Color Dreams created the labels Bunch Games and Wisdom Tree for various purposes. Wisdom Tree is known for publishing games centered around religion. Bible Adventures is one of Wisdom Tree's most well-known releases. While Color Dreams released around a dozen titles, Bunch Games and Wisdom Tree's combined library for the NES is slightly less than this.

American Video Entertainment

While we're at it, let's explore the game Krazy Kreatures by American Video Entertainment.  Again, this is a recently purchased game which I have never played before. When I fired up this cart, I have to admit that I giggled a bit at the title screen graphics. I gave the game a try and I am impressed. I began to play and about an hour went by before I realized that I was still engaged!

I am a fan of pick-me-up games, and this one definitely fits into that category. The idea is pretty simple: there is a game board comprised of tiles. Each tile gets filled in over time with various shapes. You must move the tiles around to match up shapes, thus eliminating them from the board. The board continues to fill with tiles over time, so if you're too slow, it's game over. The game board in each level has a different shape, which mixes it up a bit. You are scored by how many tiles are cleared when time runs out.

American Video Entertainment was based in San Jose, CA and published over a dozen different games.  Some notable titles are Dudes with Attitude, F-15 City War, and Krazy Kreatures.



In Conclusion


I really enjoyed playing and learning more about these classic unlicensed carts. I am happy to have purchased and explored them. For those who both collect and play games, I say give these a try. If you're a bit of a completest like me, you'll probably pick them up regardless.  I do think that they are worth checking out. I also feel that there is a lot of play time and decent quality in these unlicensed carts. I hope that you get to enjoy them as I am!